X-Men Rumor: Gambit Disney Plus Series Full Steam Ahead?

Phillip Pratt |

Apr 6, 2020

When fate deals you a bad hand – sometimes there’s just no getting around it. You just gotta go through it. Although it feels like a decade ago – it’s only been five years since we saw Channing Tatum flexing on the stage of Hall H alongside the stars of Fox’s X-Men, Deadpool, and Fantastic Four franchises.

Gambit fans around the world waited with bated breath as casting calls and rumors of a stellar script bounced around Hollywood. Sadly, it was all tainted by reality. The project burned through no less than three directors. Studio execs reportedly cut its bloated budget in half, and finally, Fox got bought up by Disney – canceling anything that was already in progress.

That seemed to be all she wrote for Marvel’s Prince of Thieves. That is until Disney Plus came around. Not long before or after the streaming service launched, new X-Men related rumors began to make rounds. One of them being a series for Gambit.

X-Men Rumor: Gambit Disney+ Series Full Steam Ahead?

And it wasn’t rampant hearsay. You can read more about it here, but to keep it short – Disney reserved several names and locations key to Gambit’s origin for future use. These included Bella Donna, New Orleans, and Pig – a villain from the Fabian Nicieza comic series – among other characters.

That was a few months ago and there hasn’t been much movement since. Until today, that is. YouTuber, The Cosmic Wonder, reported news from insider, Mikey Sutton, that a ‘Gambit [series] is coming’. He hedged his decree with a time-stamp of ‘a few years,’ but he does seem fairly confident.

The news was posted on Sutton’s Facebook group ‘Geekosity’ as well as personally emailed to Cosmic Wonder. In it, there are several things to note such as who would be playing Gambit. While there’s no actor attached, Sutton is almost certain that Tatum isn’t in the running. At least, not for the moment.

Related: Gambit’s Top 10 Team-Ups!

Seeing as Disney/Marvel Studios likes to hold onto their talent for several movies – they’ll most likely want a young actor. Sutton says they are currently looking for a “Harrison Ford type.” Hopefully, the actor takes to his role more enthusiastically than Ford did recently with Han Solo.

As for the show, Sutton believes they’ll be going for a “modern Western, a mutant Maverick” type of vibe, but of course set in Gambit’s place of origin, NOLA. If you are unfamiliar with ‘Maverick’, it was a TV show set in the late 1800s. It revolved around two men that traveled the old West, gambling their way through adventures. It was later adapted into a film starring Mel Gibson.

Here’s the key part of the rumor:

“First: Channing Tatum is gone. According to insiders, there are no plans to have Tatum play Gambit at all. That ship has sailed. Could that change? Anything is possible in the Upside Down, but it doesn’t look like it’s in the cards. Apparently, they prefer somebody younger, a Harrison Ford type, a charmer who is a little rough around the edges. Secondly: No movie. Gambit will appear in the movies but there is no solo film being discussed. What they see for Gambit is a TV series set in the MCU for Disney+. The tone talked about is a modern Western, a mutant Maverick, if you will, with sly wit and gritty action enveloped by a New Orleans flavor.

This is extremely early, and the C-virus is delaying everything in sight so it will take a few years before we see Gambit on Disney+.

But make no mistake: Gambit is coming.”

For the moment, there is no solo Gambit movie in the works – but in my opinion, a series is better. Gambit’s lore is only second to Wolverine in girth but trumps just about anyone in richness. So much so, it’s often borrowed to help other Marvel characters like Spider-Man. There’s plenty of stories to tell.

Looking forward to more information on the new Gambit project? Of course, you are. Let us know below.